We regularly see shops with an "app bill" of 500-1.5k EUR per month. The owners often don't even know it.
They see individual app costs of 5 EUR, 20 EUR, 50 EUR -- and think that's okay. But aggregated, these build up into a hidden cost structure that eats into their profit margin.
This article shows: What does a typical app landscape look like, which apps are truly necessary, where are the costs hiding -- and when is custom development cheaper than app subscriptions.
The Reality: A Typical Shop and Its App Bill
Take an average Shopify store with 30k EUR in monthly revenue:
| App | Category | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | Email Marketing | 150 EUR |
| Yotpo | Reviews & UGC | 85 EUR |
| Rebuy | Upselling/Cross-Sell | 120 EUR |
| Shipstation | Shipping Management | 75 EUR |
| Surge | Inventory Management | 60 EUR |
| Google Shopping | Feed Management | 40 EUR |
| TikTok Pixel | Ad Tracking | 20 EUR |
| Gorgias | Customer Support | 50 EUR |
| Zapier | Integrations | 30 EUR |
| Total Budget | -- | ~630 EUR/month |
These aren't the "best" or "worst" apps. This is a realistic selection for a growing store.
630 EUR/month x 12 months = 7,560 EUR/year in app costs alone.
With a typical profit margin of 30%, you need to generate 21k EUR in additional revenue to "pay for" these apps.
The Top 5 Cost-Heavy App Categories
1. Email Marketing (50-300 EUR/month)
Typical Apps:
- Klaviyo: 150-300 EUR/month (based on contacts and features)
- Omnisend: 80-200 EUR/month
- Attentive: 200-500 EUR/month (SMS + Email)
- Drip: 50-150 EUR/month
- ConvertKit: 100-300 EUR/month
Why so expensive? Email marketing is billed by "contacts." With 50,000 email contacts, you'll quickly pay 250 EUR/month with Klaviyo. Every new contact = higher costs.
Are there cheaper alternatives?
- Shopify Email (free, but limited features)
- Mailchimp (free up to 500 contacts, then 20 EUR/month)
- Brevo (5-300 EUR/month depending on volume)
Our view: Email marketing is almost always worth it. The average ROI is 400% (for every euro you spend, you get 4 EUR back). Don't cut corners here.
2. Reviews & Social Proof (40-150 EUR/month)
Typical Apps:
- Yotpo: 85-200 EUR/month
- Trustpilot: 50-150 EUR/month
- Judge.me: 20-100 EUR/month
- Loox: 30-80 EUR/month
- Sezzle Reviews: 50-150 EUR/month
Why so expensive? These apps make money through the reviews they host, moderation, and the displays on your site.
The problem: Many shops pay 85 EUR+ for reviews but actually only generate 2-3 new reviews per month. That's inefficient.
Cost-saving strategy:
- Use Shopify-native review features (free)
- Use a review mailer (Klaviyo, Omnisend) instead of a separate review app
- Judge.me often offers the best value for money
3. Upselling & Cross-Selling (50-300 EUR/month)
Typical Apps:
- Rebuy: 120-300 EUR/month (upsell, bundles, product recommendations)
- Bold: 80-200 EUR/month
- Growave: 50-100 EUR/month
- Nisto: 60-150 EUR/month
- Subbly (for subscriptions): 100-300 EUR/month
Why so expensive? These apps are often billed based on revenue share -- if they generate 5% more revenue, the app costs more.
The truth: Upselling apps often don't work when:
- Your product cataloging is poor
- You don't know what to upsell and cross-sell
- You're too aggressive ("Would you like to add XYZ?")
Our experience: For Bekateq, we replaced upselling entirely with custom code. That cost 3k EUR in one-time development -- but saves 120 EUR/month = 1,440 EUR/year.
4. Shipping & Fulfillment (30-200 EUR/month)
Typical Apps:
- Shipstation: 75-200 EUR/month
- ShipBob: 100-300 EUR/month (3PL + software)
- Printful: variable fees per item
- Oberlo/Alidrop: 20-100 EUR/month (for dropshipping)
- Flexport: custom pricing
The dilemma: If you've truly scaled, you probably need a 3PL (Third-Party Logistics) company. But that's a different cost class (3-5% of revenue).
Mid-size shops (100-500 orders/month):
- Shopify's built-in shipping label system: free
- Shipstation, if you have multiple channels: 75-99 EUR/month
- Alternatively: An in-house shipping management team
5. Inventory Management (30-150 EUR/month)
Typical Apps:
- Surge: 60-120 EUR/month
- Stocky: 40-120 EUR/month
- Katana: 50-200 EUR/month (Production + Inventory)
- DEAR Inventory: 80-250 EUR/month
- TraceLink: custom pricing
When do you really need this?
If you have:
- 500+ SKUs
- Multiple warehouses/locations
- Manufacturing/fulfillment to manage
- Dropshipping with your own inventory
If you have:
- Under 200 SKUs
- One warehouse
- Simple fulfillment
...then you don't need it. Shopify's native inventory management is enough.
Free vs. Paid Apps: The Hidden Costs
The Promise: "Free Apps with No Hidden Fees"
That's rarely true. Free apps make money through:
Upselling to premium features
- Judge.me (free) -> Premium (100+ EUR/month)
- Loox (free) -> Pro Plan (60-80 EUR/month)
- Oberlo (free) -> Pro (200 EUR/month)
Transaction Fees
- Printful deducts fees directly from orders
- Sezzle earns through financing fees
- Afterpay, Klarna -- every transaction costs the shop
Data Harvesting & Marketing
- Some apps collect customer data for their marketing platform
- You don't pay directly, but you lose data control
- This can lead to data privacy issues
Performance Costs
- Every app slows down your store
- More scripts = higher page load time
- Higher load time = lower conversion (up to 7% per second)
- That costs you more than the app saves
Our Rule: "Every App Needs an ROI Reason"
Before you install an app, ask:
- What does this app do for me?
- How much revenue does it generate (or save)?
- Does the app cost less than what it brings me?
If you can't answer that, don't install it.
App Costs by Store Size: Realistic Budgets
Micro-Shop (0-5k EUR monthly revenue)
Recommended:
- Shopify Plan: 36 EUR
- Apps: 50-100 EUR/month (essentials only)
- Google Analytics (free)
- Shopify Email (free)
- 1-2 basic apps (Judge.me, Oberlo, etc.)
Total budget: 100-150 EUR/month
Don't need: Klaviyo, Rebuy, Shipstation, complex inventory systems
Small Business (5k-30k EUR monthly)
Recommended:
- Shopify Plan: 105 EUR
- Apps: 300-500 EUR/month
- Klaviyo (150 EUR)
- Judge.me or Yotpo (50 EUR)
- Rebuy or Bold (100 EUR)
- Shipstation (75 EUR)
- Google Shopping/TikTok (50 EUR)
Total budget: 450-650 EUR/month
Mid-Market (30k-100k EUR monthly)
Recommended:
- Shopify Plan: 384 EUR (Advanced)
- Apps: 600-900 EUR/month
- Klaviyo (200 EUR) -- Premium Tier
- Yotpo (100 EUR)
- Rebuy (150 EUR)
- Shipstation (100 EUR)
- Inventory system (75 EUR)
- Gorgias/Support (60 EUR)
- Multiple ad pixels/trackers (100 EUR)
Total budget: 1k-1.35k EUR/month
Enterprise (100k EUR+ monthly)
At this level:
- Shopify Plus: 2.3k EUR+
- Apps: 1.5k-3k EUR/month
- But also: Shopify Flow (free), native APIs, custom integrations
- The focus shifts from apps to custom code
The Critical Scenario: When Is Code Better Than Apps?
The Bekateq Case Study:
Bekateq was a store with complex shipping workflows and warehouse management. They were paying:
- Inventory app: 80 EUR/month
- Upsell app: 120 EUR/month
- Custom integration: 50 EUR/month (Zapier)
Total costs: 250 EUR/month = 3k EUR/year
We built instead:
- 3 custom features in Shopify Liquid: 4,000 EUR one-time
- 1 custom backend integration: 2k EUR one-time
Total investment: 6k EUR one-time
Payback: 2 years. After 2 years, the investment has paid for itself, and ongoing costs are nearly 0.
This is the classic case where code is better than apps:
- You need a feature permanently (years)
- The feature costs 50+ EUR per month
- The complexity is medium (not gigantic)
- You have technical partners or in-house developers
The App Audit: How to Review Your Budget
Use this checklist:
Go to Shopify Admin -> Apps & Channels
List all installed apps with their costs
For each app, ask:
- Does this app explicitly cost me money? (Yes/No)
- How much per month?
- When did I install this?
- Is this actively being used? (Yes/No)
- What revenue can I attribute to this app?
Categorize into:
- Essential (Email, Analytics, Shipping)
- Valuable (Reviews, Upselling, if it works)
- Unknown (You're not sure if it's working)
- Waste (installed but not used)
Action:
- Essential: Keep, optimize
- Valuable: Monitor
- Unknown: Uninstall or test for 30 days
- Waste: Uninstall immediately
Our Recommendation: The 3-Pillar Model
Think of your app strategy in three pillars:
Pillar 1: Essential (100-200 EUR/month)
- Email marketing (Klaviyo or alternative)
- Analytics (Google Analytics, free)
- Shipping management (if needed)
- Support tools (if needed)
Rule: These are non-negotiable. These are business functions.
Pillar 2: Valuable (100-300 EUR/month)
- Reviews & Social Proof (ROI-verified)
- Upselling/Cross-Sell (conversion-verified)
- Inventory Management (for complex stock)
- Integrations (Zapier for specific workflows)
Rule: These must have a measurable ROI. If not, remove them.
Pillar 3: Growth (variable)
- New test apps for growth experiments
- But: Time limit (e.g., 30 days), then evaluate
Rule: Experimenting is okay, but with accountability.
The App Cost Formula: When You're Overspending
If your monthly app bill is > 10% of your profit, you're spending too much.
Example:
- 30k EUR revenue x 35% profit = 10,500 EUR profit
- Maximum app budget: 1,050 EUR/month
- If you're spending 1.5k EUR/month, you're overspending by 50%
That's the signal to do a comprehensive app audit.
Claudio Gerlich is Technical Architect and founder of smplx. Working with stores like Bekateq, we've learned that the best app isn't always the one with the most features -- but the one that actually makes or saves money. That's our philosophy at smplx.: transparency about costs, focus on ROI, and the courage to say "you don't need that."